There is more to a big belly than meets the eye and it can impact your health in so many negative ways. It can lead to illnesses like diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, liver disease, Alzheimer's and more. The belly fat you see on the outside is also inside, intertwined and interfering with your internal organs.
Are You an Apple or a Pear?
Everyone stores fat in their body and we all store it differently and in different spots. Some fat is good and healthy for us.
It protects our body and can keep us warm in the winter. There are places on the body that fat does get stored normally, the hips, thighs, arms, and neck to name a few. But the belly is not a good place to store fat.
A pear-shaped person is one who would store most of their fat around the hips and their belly will not be that big. If you picture a pear, this is what they mean.
The Two Types of Belly Fat
There are two different types of belly fat, and which type the belly fat is, is determined by where in the belly the fat is stored. The stomach has a band of muscles called the abdominal muscles or abs. On which side of these abdominal muscles the fat is mainly stored determines what type of fat it is.
Subcutaneous fat is the fat that we mainly see as belly fat. This fat is stored on the outside of the abdominal muscles. It is just under the first layer of skin or epidermis. This is the fat that the old cereal commercial had you pinching an inch to see if you were overweight.
Visceral fat is the fat that is stored inside the abdominal muscles and is more dangerous to our health. This fat is close to and in and around the organs and also contributes to the belly fat we see.
Why Belly Fat is Unhealthy
Visceral fat is more dangerous to our health because it is believed that it contributes to glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, sleep apnea, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, colon cancer, higher triglyceride levels, and coronary heart disease.
In other words, visceral fat can lead to what is known as metabolic syndrome or syndrome X.
The more fat, the more fat cells. Fat cells release a large amount of fatty acids into the body, which causes problems with insulin metabolism.
Belly Fat and the Covid-19 Virus
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that having an underlying condition can make getting Covid-19 much worse, and obesity is considered an underlying condition.
A recent study of Covid-19 patients in the United States found that being overweight or obese substantially raised the risk of getting the virus bad enough to be hospitalized.
Of those Covid-19 patients in the hospital, 77% of them were overweight or obese.
According to the CDC, having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9 is considered as being overweight. And a BMI of 30 or higher is the definition of being obese.
Kaiser conducted another study that found the risk of dying from Covid-19 more than doubled for those with a BMI of 40-44.9. And was especially bad for those under 60 years of age. [2]
Being Skinny Can Be Misleading
New research is showing that even though some people are skinny, have a normal waist size and BMI numbers can still have too much visceral fat. These people do not have the apple size or the big belly as their warning sign. BMI doesn’t give any indication of where the fat is being stored.
An MRI can show a person if they have this hidden visceral fat. Skinny people who are usually at risk for having the visceral fat are people who control their weight through diet with little or no exercise.
How To Measure Your Belly Fat
There are different ways to find out how much fat you have and what kind it is. Skinfold caliper’s can be used to measure the overall body fat, but the accuracy of calipers is only fair.
The waist to hip ratio (WHR) is a number by measuring your waist just above your hip bone and then measuring your hips. You divide the waist by the hip.
For example, a waist of 36” and hips of 33” would be a waist to hip ratio of 1.09. Some charts say a WHR above .90 for men and above .80 for women puts them at a higher risk for heart disease.
At this time, the American Heart Association has said that the BMI number is more accurate and doesn’t recommend using the WHR, but that waist circumference is still important.
According to Dr. James Rippe of Tufts University, you should consider losing weight if your waist if more than 37” for men and 31.5” for women, regardless of height.
The New England Journal of Medicine study recommends using the BMI readings, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio together to determine your risks from visceral belly fat. A person with a low or healthy BMI number but with a larger waist measurement will be at a higher risk for these diseases.
There is a blood test that could determine if a person has the more dangerous visceral belly fat. Studies found that people with high amounts of this belly fat have much more retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) in their blood.
There are no contradictions in the studies. Belly fat and in particular visceral belly fat is dangerous to our health and is one of the first indicators of serious health issues and the possibility of future health problems.
Remember, the fat you eat is the fat you wear. The higher the percentage of fat you eat per day, the higher your chance of having dangerous fat and being overweight.
Losing weight today by changing to a healthy diet is the best way to avoid diseases in the future.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
© 2010-2019 Sam Montana
Resources:
[2] The American Journal of Managed Care
